


Beautiful Darkness

by laughinginthebreeze



Series: Dark Love [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Angst, Darkness, F/M, Fanfiction, Hell, Mild Humor, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Originally from Fanfiction, Possibly Unrequited Crush, Romance, Season/Series 06, Unresolved Romantic Tension, post 5x22
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-03-21 14:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3696512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughinginthebreeze/pseuds/laughinginthebreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'm Katherine Pierce. I'm a survivor." Bonnie and Damon aren't the only ones trapped. And revenge always has been a dish best served cold, and two evil masterminds have always been better than one... My story, don't copy please.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own tvd, it belongs to Julie Plec and L.J Smith.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All everything came down to now was her non-existent life filled with creatures of the night and a choking darkness imprinting an inky bloodsmear on her soul.
> 
> Basically, Hell.
> 
> And then an unwanted visitor arrived. Great.

Darkness.

All she could see, all she could _feel_ , was darkness smothering her, pressing against her from all sides, curling wisps of it coiling into her mouth, suffocating her as it dripped sluggishly down her throat. She could even taste it on her tongue, bittersweet, the stuff of nightmares. She couldn't see a metre in front of her before the black caved in on her vision. Anything else she saw was grey anyway. She might as well have been blind for all the use her eyes gave her. She couldn't tell if they were open or shut, and, it kinda scared her.

But, this was her death. This was her Afterlife. This was her _Hell_.

And she was so _bored_ , all of of the time. She couldn't do anything but listen. She had even grown accustomed to counting the strands of her hair if she could see them. She sometimes talked to herself, slowly going mad, expecting someone to answer, _needing_ someone else there.

But the silence was deafening.

Because if there was one thing Katherine Pierce hated above all else, above Klaus, above humanity, above death itself, it was loneliness. And she was all alone.

Well, not _completely_ alone, because sometimes she did hear things. Little whispers that she had to reach out and search for, listen carefully to them before they filtered away because they were better than nothing. They were better than being alone, in muffled darkness for all eternity. Harsh, jabbing words they were though, enough to make her turn away, curling up into a ball in mid-air as though she could hide, and carved carefully to skitter across her skin and slice into her like a knife, reminding her of every evil thing she'd ever done, then bring her emotions, her guilt, her grief, her sadness rushing to the surface, only to feed on it. And every time, she became less human, lost the ability to feel those things a little more each time, as the Voices ripped her ability to care apart. It worked. It always worked. She let it because it meant someone was here. It meant she had hope, despite floating through blackness, clawing and fighting against the thick tension that constricted her all around, even though there was no way out, no path, no people...

No light.

And Katherine _needed_ light, she needed something to tell her how long she'd been here, and how long she would be here, even though she knew the answer to the last one. She groped for something, anything, a sliver of a chance so she could hang on to the thought of life before the emotions that made her her were gone forever.

But it didn't look like that was going to be happening anytime soon.

**~X~**

The Voices were back in full-force. It was a pity. Katherine had almost dozed off, what with nothing else to do. She lay there, floating on ink for a moment, before struggling upright, kicking towards the ground, until she felt something solid underneath her feet. It was a constant battle-to remain on her feet. It was so easy to be swept back off them again in this world. It was like floating on a cloud, but the cloud had a dark, evil substance to it, churning and thick. Tendrils of fog-like stuff waved and curled about her body as she moved, frantically trying to escape the Voices. It never worked, of course it didn't, but it took her a moment to realise that the Voices weren't speaking. She had adjusted to time without another living soul, so it took her some time to realise the sounds were of scrabbling. A scratching sound along the texture of the floor that sent chills running down her spine. Something was there. Something was coming for her.

Or maybe someone.

Of course, it could be her imagination, sanity wasn't exactly her strong point nowadays. But, only one way to find out.

"Hello?" Katherine muttered, hope soaring in her chest. The one emotion she could find that she had left. Her fear had been stolen, she was dead already, why still be scared? Only silence rebounded back at her though, mocking and cold. So she screamed it this time, needing some sort of sound. "HELLO?!"

Her voice echoed out, ringing in the darkness, guttural, and slightly pleading, to the Voices that stole her pity. Nothing more. There was nobody there. And there never would be. Never had there been a more horrible person than her who had died, never who would end up here. The hope deflated in her chest as she let the fog sweep her back off her feet, dangling a few inches in the air. She was lost. She was lost without hope.

She wouldn't have been surprised if there was anyone there, and she just sounded too mournful to go near.

But then she ended up in for the surprise of her life-or, rather, death-because someone answered back.

"Who's there?" A soft whisper, tinged with hope, stirring memories she couldn't quite reach in the corner of her mind. She knew who that was, she'd heard that voice before. But she couldn't put her finger on it.

But if it was, even if by instinct, that she felt she knew this person, then maybe she would be okay after all, now she had eternal death with someone by her side. She took a deep, unneeded breath, and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She wasn't taking any chances.

There was an echoey stamp a few feet away from her, as though someone had taken a step forward. "Doppelgänger?" The voice asked wryly, and this time it was louder so she could tell it was a man. Someone she recognised, someone who knew she was a doppelgänger, but didn't know which one she was...

That could only mean a select few people could possibly be here right now.

Only two were men.

Only one had that particular voice, chilling, and yet comforting at the same time. Belonging to two different people, both of whom she felt completely different about.

Oh, no.

Of all the supernatural beings who had died and been dragged into hell, did it really have to be...

"Silas." Katherine stated, slamming her feet into the ground and taking a wary step back further into inky darkness.

"And, judging by your tone of disgust and fear, Katherine." Came his sour reply.

"Funny." She sneered, blindly searching for an escape route, even though she knew there wasn't one. "What are you doing here?" She asked, still searching, panic overriding instinct and common sense. "Didn't you find peace with Amara?"

"Nope, apparently not, and, it should be pretty obvious why I'm here." Silas said, begrudged.

There was a tight pause, as Katherine slowly backed away, inch by inch. She didn't need to reply to that, they both knew the answer. She just needed to get out of here. Because even in death, he still scared her.

"You still there?" He asked, shuffling forward. He sounded... Scared. Desperate. Alone. 

She sighed loudly. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Good," Another pause. "I'm glad. I was alone for a long time. I've always been alone."

"I know the feeling." She muttered, reluctantly stopping in her tracks. Now she was feeling sorry for him. Great.

"Do the Voices get to you too? Make you... lose sense of who you are?" Silas suddenly asked. He sounded a lot closer now. A lot. She could very faintly feel his breath on her face.

She swallowed, trying to bury the memory. "Yeah. It's _awful_ , a perfect hell. Something... something I'd rather forget... but I-"

"But you can't." He interrupted softly, as though he could still read her mind. She could see the faint outline of his figure, but it was barely anything, and it all blurred together in her confusion and lack of sight.

"I've tried." She muttered. "I've really tried, but they steal my humanity away and I hate it, because I'm powerless. The one thing you can't use as a weapon is your emotions."

"No," he mused, still unmoving. "But emotions can invoke wars. Maybe these... things wanted us here for a reason. Maybe there's something about us that's important to them."

"Where do you wanna start on the list of things valuable about us?" She laughed dryly. He momentarily joined in, and for a moment, she felt the suction-like feeling in her stomach stop in the lighthearted moment.

It didn't last long.

Now the Voices really _were_ back, piercingly loud, shrieking at them, as though they couldn't stand a second of happiness in their hell-hole.

 _"Ssstupid, ssstupid little girl, little Katerina, little girl who loved too blindly."_ They hissed as one, all in unison. They all spoke in high-pitched whispers, glee and menace in their tone as they yanked the hope right out of her. Katherine felt vacant, empty, as she fell to her knees, pressing her hands to her ears as she screamed in pure rage at them, before that was stolen too, sucked out of her as though she had been punched and lost her breath.

 _"No-one caressss, they're glad you're gone, everyone hates, hatesss, HATESSS! HATES you."_ They all crooned in a sing-along voice. She curled up, suddenly aware that Silas was crouching down in front of her as she silently cried, hugging her tightly, his hands cradling her head as the Voices crushed him too. She desperately reached out, fumbling around for him until she landed on something solid, and clung on with clenched fingers, rocking into his chest.

 _"You didn't desssserve that child, child, child, her death is your fault, your FAULT! She died when she met you, everyone diesssss when they meeeet you, it's your curssse, your curssse, you inflict on othersss, you don't dessserve happinessss! Your lucky ssshot at human lifffe wasn't enough for you."_ They screeched, and screeched and wouldn't stop, her emotions were choking her, she scrabbled in a panic, her nails digging into Silas' shoulders in what surely must have been painful half-moon grooves, but his face somehow had become buried in her hair as he rubbed soft circles on her back soothingly as she whimpered.

_NottruenottrueNadiaNadiaNadia..._

But even as they dug deep into her soul, they clawed their way into Silas too. _"Cheater, cheater, cheater, two thousand yearsss of a life you ssshould ssstill be in, coward, COWARD! You aren't fit to walk the Earth, ssshould have remained trapped in your tomb, rotting, ssstarving, ssstarving..."_

His hand pulled on her hair tighter, but she welcomed the pain. It blocked out the claws tearing at what was left of her soul, she could finally _concentrate_ on something other than them. She wanted his inflictions. She _needed_ the pain to survive.

She didn't know how long they were locked together like that, but for some reason she wouldn't have it any other way. The Voices retracted, slid away, and she felt her soul unwind from the choking grip it was in. Once they were miserable and scared enough, it seemed the Voices left them alone. A little less human than before.

And what scared Katherine the most was that she didn't know how much human was left in her.

She shivered at the thought, and unfurled away from Silas as he slid emptily back away from her. It seemed both of them would rather forget that happened.

She was shaking violently as she stood up, the laws of this world keeping her adrift from the floor, trying to expel the thoughts that the Voices had so cleverly woven into her mind. There was silence once more, and for a second she actually dreaded that Silas wasn't there anymore, but the thick, black fog was coiling around him, she caught snatches of his face, before he was swallowed by darkness again. It must have been the dark leather jacket he was wearing that made him hard to see.

"Are you okay?" He finally asked. She cringed; he sounded so faraway and so close at the same time. It was disorientating.

"No."

"Neither am I." He muttered. She subconsciously fumbled for him, desperate for the contact of another human being, and caught the sleek material of his jacket, gripping it tightly. She needed to be okay again. And she couldn't be if she was alone. His arms reluctantly came up, and she could feel them hovering around her shoulders, before he gingerly wrapped her in an awkward hug as though he had never done it before. It was a mutual thing, she knew, so they wouldn't feel so afraid anymore.

Such a difference from all those months ago.

It was an improvement for the better. One less person to hate, to be hated by, there were so many that there was no longer a distinguishable difference.

But her loneliness wasn't reflected back at her in a thick, suffocating death fog anymore.

Maybe it was for the better, even if she was stuck with him for all eternity.

**~X~**

She was with him for one hundred and thirty seven hours of compainable silence before he came up with a plan.

"What if, we bring them back, then instead of reacting like we normally do, ignore them and think happy thoughts?"

She squinted at him, or what of him he could see. "Well, it's impossible. Duh!" She was almost sure she saw him laugh.

"No it's not, they just let us think it is."

"Right." She scoffed, turning away. She didn't want to believe it, that it seemed that easy.

"Fine. I'm going to try it. With or without you." He huffed, standing up, and marching away. It took her about a second to give in.

"Okay, wait for me!" She wasn't one to give up _that_ easily after all.

**~X~**

It was almost a laugh. They were already there, like they knew what they were doing and were trying to stop it. The Voices attacked her first. Flew right at her, no longer emotionally, but physically as well, clawing and shrieking, distracting her with all their might. She fought it, hard. Shoving, snarling, but they were persistent, and so she had to be too.

"Get away, get out of my head!" She shrieked, batting at them, as they darted around her head, merely laughing wickedly. She caught little snatches of them that were almost too horrifying for the brain to comply; jagged, yellow slits for eyes, a twisted grimace that revealed unevenly pointed teeth, and their bodies-if you could even call them that, were all melted, and mushed together, like melted marshmallow. You couldn't tell where one grotesque limb began, and where another ended. The bodies all seemed to constantly move too, wobbling like the consistency of jelly.

It made her feel sick just thinking about them.

So instead, she thought about Nadia. Her last moments with her that had been so sad and yet happy at the same time. She had seen her daughter into the world, so it seemed fitting she would see her out of it. A pressure in her head suddenly dimmed, one she hadn't even realised was there, and she had never felt so light. She fought harder, as the creepy creatures crawled away, as though she were no longer appetising. It was working! The suction-like feeling was leaving her body, and she focused, got a grip. She was dead, but right now she'd never felt more alive, triumphant at surviving yet again.

"Katherine!" Silas grabbed her hand, and she breathed out her relief, deliberately relaxing. "Come on, it's now or never, those things are gonna realise at some point!" She squeezed his hand back, before they started running.

Running away from the shrieks and howls of the demented souls within, running from Hell.

Running from death.

The pounding patter of their shoes slapping against the icy, echoey floor as they ran rebounded in her thoughts, knocking around her skull. But she could see her way out, like the light at the end of a tunnel. She focused on her hope, her love, the good parts of her life, being a vampire, meeting Stefan, Nadia, she felt the strain in her body from the exertion of channelling her thoughts into pure power. It hurt, like an ache, but it was worth running through the pain. She didn't care where she ended up now, anywhere but here. Anyplace happy, any peace, even a little, she deserved it in her long, exhausting struggle to stay alive.

The light grew larger and larger, until it filled her vision completely, the brightness searing her eyes as she forced herself to keep looking at that light.

And that was the last thing she saw, for now.

**~X~**

Katherine felt... blank. Peaceful. Free. Kinda dead.

But that was until she realised the sun was warming her face and the grass was pressed against her back.

She jerked upright in surprise, gasping in a breath of cool fresh air, that felt completely wonderful compared to the choking fingers of dark evil. Looking up, she saw a bright blue sky, and not a cloud in sight. It seemed like Heaven, but she knew nothing perfect on the top would ever stay perfect for long. A groan sounded next to her, and she whipped her head to the side next to her in alarm, relaxing only when she saw Silas sitting up next to her, eyes wide in surprise.

"Well, of all the places I expected to be, I did not expect this. We must be here for a reason." He said, standing up, and offering her a hand, which she accepted. She looked at him in wonder; she hadn't seen that face in a long time and she had missed it. From the hungry look he was giving her, he felt the same. About Amara. Yep. A pang of hurt sliced through her chest and she looked away in surprise. Why did she feel that way? Burying it, she marched down the front lawn of the large house behind them that looked strangely like Elena's house.

 _Wait_ , she stopped and turned. That _was_ Elena's house. Impossible. She gaped at it, jaw dropping in shock, her insides freezing.

"What?" Silas demanded, seeing her freeze, and walked back up to her.

"That's Elena's house." She stated in shock.

"So?" Silas rolled his eyes. "That's a good thing! We're back in Mystic Falls."

"No, bad." She shook her head. "Because Elena burned down her house a year ago." She raked the house, searching for anything to prove her wrong, but only a newspaper was on the doorstep. She ran over to it, eagerly scanning it for any evidence of their whereabouts. The date flashed out at her in small, black ink, chilling her bones to the core. They were very far from home. Further than they thought.

"Then, where are we?" Silas pondered aloud, looking up at the clear, blue sky. She looked down at the newspaper, brow furrowing in confusion. The impossible was now possible. Maybe this was their ticket home.

"Mystic Falls, 1994."


	2. Chapter 2

They were in...well, Katherine didn't know where exactly. 1994, May 10th. They'd gone back in _time_. That couldn't be possible. No way. But the newspaper flashing the date in front of them couldn't be lying. It was a specific date, and probably one of the worst possible ones. They'd stepped out of one Hell, and into another. It didn't seem fair, it wasn't.

And while she was absorbing this dilemma, Silas was making pancakes. _Pancakes_. She'd laugh at the sight, but it didn't seem funny right now, in this place.

They'd been here two days, and there was no-one else here, and they were stuck on repeat in the same day, all over again.

Worst of all, they were stuck in Elena's _house_. She'd suggested the Boarding House, but _no_ , Silas wanted to stay here where all the pancake batter mix was, with the bright, happy wallpaper, and the neat and orderly furniture. Boring! She'd leave, but she'd be alone again, and who knew what was creeping about here, however unlikely.

Besides, for some reason she felt much safer with him.

"Do you want whipped cream?" Silas asked cheerily, painting a huge smile onto his face when she glared at him. He was enjoying her discomfort _way_ too much.

"You're being ridiculous. And annoying." Katherine said, as he placed the plate in front of her. The pancake had a really creepy smiley face on it with chocolate sauce, and it looked like it was watching her. She jabbed at it viciously, taking out her frustration on it.

"Leave the pancake alone!" Silas said, leaning into her hair and smirking.

"You're lucky _you're_ not the pancake!" Katherine smiled, gripping her fork sinisterly.

"Ooh, I've been warned, scary!" Silas sat down opposite her. He was so _irritating_. Urgh, and...sexy, she had to admit that.

"Mmmm, anyway, since we're stuck in the worst possible year, you have any quick-smart ways of getting out?" She asked, chewing her pancake. It was surprisingly good, a light and fluffy texture.

"Yes, but without an ascendant, we aren't getting anywhere." Silas said, disappointment in his eyes that she knew was a reflection of her own emotions. She didn't want to be stuck here, but it was better than before. At least they had a nice view and a constant supply of food.

"Damn." Katherine muttered. "Then we might as well go shopping!" Her spirits lifted as she said it. Maybe shopping would help her feel better about being dead.

"We have to eat something other than pancakes!" She added reasonably. Silas gritted his teeth. "Yeah, why not?"

Katherine clapped her hands excitedly. "Great! Let's go!" She jumped up and hurried out the front door, vaguely irritated by Silas laughing at her. She pursed her lips, and wandered off down the road, towards the mall. She didn't have a car, but she was determined to have fun in this one-horse town.

She'd been kicked out of Hell, so she could do anything.

**~X~**

They'd been here two weeks. Two weeks, and they still hadn't found a way out. She was starting to think they never would.

Right up until she saw the car parked in the shopping mall parking lot that definitely hadn't been there yesterday.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered to herself. Oh, this was getting worse by the second.

"There's someone here?" Silas asked, eyes widening in delight.

"Not just anyone. That's Damon's car!" Katherine whispered, hopping over it. There was glee in her horror as well; maybe she could trash it.

" _Damon's_ here?" Silas sounded dubious.

"Huh," she stopped in her tracks. That _did_ sound unlikely. "Maybe not, that guy's practically unkillable purely because of his ironic sense of humour. He must have left it here in 1994."

"Hopefully." Silas muttered, walking into the food shop. Katherine smirked, and followed him in as he grabbed a shopping trolley and pushed it down the aisle.

"Well, would you rather Tessa was here?" She remarked snidely as she opened a freezer door and took out some lollies. She'd missed them.

"No, but," he pulled a pair of sunglasses from the rack next to him and put them on, leaning on the trolley. "Damon's not much better, and he's not much use."

"I suppose." She sighed as she grabbed a bag of apples and tossed them in. "Anyway, what's next on the list?"

"Um," Silas looked down at the notepaper he'd scrawled on. "Ice cream."

Katherine dumped in a tub of ice cream, frowning at how unhealthy they were.

"But-" she started to argue, but the the sound of someone shoving open the door caused them both to freeze in their tracks. As though simultaneously, they ducked into the next aisle, Silas going round and shoving the trolley right out the back door.

"What? Why are we running?" Katherine demanded as Silas sped round the corner.

"What if they're dangerous to us? I mean, we're not very well liked, you should hear what people say about you." He hissed back at her.

"Well, excuse me for being sociable. It's not like I want to be stuck here with you!" She snapped back hotly, marching off as fast as she could in her heels. She was so _angry_ , she didn't want to be here anymore, she wanted to be _alive_.

And since she couldn't have her daughter, she would have to settle for that.

"Urgh, Katherine, wait, I'm sorry!" She heard Silas grumble. He spun the trolley around and sped after her.

"Yeah, you should be." She shot back moodily, but she stopped anyway. She wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Yeah, so just...sorry." He said softly as he came up behind her.

She shrugged. "Okay." Their relationship really wasn't that mutual, they just clashed on a regular basis.

"We'll go back, see if they can help, come on." He slowly pushed the trolley until they were back at the corner, where he stopped and peeked around. Katherine hovered behind him, waiting for him to tell her something. But he didn't. Instead, his entire body had stiffened, and he sucked in a breath in shock.

"What? What do you see?" Katherine tried to edge impatiently around him, but he wouldn't move. Eventually she gave up, tugging hard on his arm until he turned back around. He looked angry, a storm in his eyes. She couldn't imagine anyone apart from Tessa that would cause that reaction.

But what he said next changed everything.

"Bonnie." He said tersely. His body was still wired and tense. "Bonnie Bennett. And, Damon, but that's no longer important."

She couldn't believe what she had heard. The anger that fueled her at that moment was unbelievable. The Bennett witch, who had stood there and watched as she was sucked away into oblivion, and hadn't lifted a finger. This must have been the luckiest coincidence she'd ever come across.

"She's dead."

"Oh, that she is." Silas smirked, releasing the forgotten trolley, letting it bounce quietly against the building wall. Katherine made to walk out, to shred Bonnie to pieces, but Silas stopped her.

"No, no, not yet. Maybe we could...mess around with them a little. Make them suffer." A small, evil smile played around Silas' lips, and she found herself enjoying it. Enjoying his dark, little theme. It was kind of cute.

"Where do I sign up?"

**~X~**

Yellow Ledbetter. Just two words. So simple, so easy, yet could be twisted in a different meaning altogether. One of danger.

She was surprised Bonnie hadn't found it sooner in that newspaper of hers, so she found it for her.

The look on Damon's face was priceless.

"I could-I could-" Silas gestured frantically, as he tried to express his delight over her _brilliant_ idea. She thought he would hug her, or at least stop making the pancakes every morning, but instead he kissed her.

Deeply.

With tongue.

She shouldn't have enjoyed it, but she just couldn't resist. So she closed her eyes, and just flowed into it, gripping the hand in her hair. She hadn't been kissed like _that_ , in so long, and it felt good knowing it came from him.

It ended too soon, with a passion that swept through her, and left her terrified, yet wanting more.

He pulled away, still leaning in so close that she could kiss him again, his forehead pressed to hers.

"I had to do that at least once." He whispered, and then he turned around and walked away up the stairs, leaving her in a state of confusion and...emotion. An emotion she couldn't quite place.

And, just like that, it was over.

For now.

**~X~**

There were days, the same old days, where Katherine just didn't know what to do about it. About him.

It had been a week, since the...incident, but whenever she thought about it, she needed a drink.

So, often on days like these, she would raid the Gilbert's wine cellar, and then the neighbours, when they run out, and she would turn the stereo up loud, pour out an elegant glass of wine for herself, and think about him, as she swayed and danced to the music. A lot.

His kiss...she found herself wanting more of it than she should, and he'd left behind feelings in her that couldn't be erased. And it wasn't fair.

Death really sucked.

Because she _knew_ , that Silas was substituting her for Amara, it wasn't hard to figure out, but she didn't care anyway. And that was what would destroy her the most.

So she let wine burn, as it slid down her throat in a blissful haze as his eyes sizzled holes in the back of her head, watching her, constantly.

His beautiful, beautiful, leaf-green eyes...

Katherine snapped out of it, all of a sudden aware that she had been staring at him, leaning forward, trying to see his face and his sparkly, smouldering eyes. And she did, as he looked up and saw her precarious position in mild shock, and the tiny sober part of her brain remembered to be embarrassed and show her mortification in her hot, red cheeks. She was not a subtle drunk. Sadly.

"What?" He smirked, looking up from his map reading, and gulping down his glass of bourbon. He'd been trying to find a way into the tunnels where the ascendent thingy would align with the eclipse.

She smiled drowsily at him, his own smile chasing her embarrassment away. His face was _amazingly_ hot. How had she not seen how good-looking he was before? How could someone _be_ that handsome, and she hadn't fully realised it yet? Even with Stefan, she hadn't quite comprehended it, though with her love for him she definitely should have. He should grow out a _moustache_. A moustache, on Silas. Wasn't that an evil guy sign? The mere image of moustache Silas made her giggle hysterically before she could control herself, and Silas looked at her sharply.

"How much did you drink?" He asked. He was almost smiling, nearly there.

She beamed back so widely her cheeks started hurting. "You're really pretty." She blurted out before she could stop herself. Alarm bells were ringing at the back of her head, but they were too dull for her to listen to them. Silas actually smiled this time, lips wordlessly pulling up in a beautifully sweet smile despite himself and straining at his cheek muscles as he leaned back in his chair.

"Like, proper beautiful. I swear, you're prettier than Stefan, and he's _really_ pretty." Katherine rambled on, voice slurring, and she stumbled in her heels clumsily towards him. She frowned at her feet. When had she put on her heels? Everything was a blur right now. Just what she wanted it to be.

"Thank you, I think." Silas said, reaching out to grab her flailing arms as she hobbled towards him. If he hadn't, she would have fallen flat into his lap, and even drunk that would be something she could never live down.

"You should loosen up. You're being boooooring!" Katherine drew out the word as she scrabbled for a hold on his shirt, gripping his collar tightly. Something shifted in his eyes; she couldn't tell what, but she was almost sure it was something close to lust. He was just skimming his eyes over her body as she leaned on him, squirming to find a comfortable place in his lap, and he didn't seem to be listening, so she said it again. "Boooooring!" It sounded funny, and he laughed, his hands on her arms slowly sliding down to her waist, his gaze on her face, nearing, nearing, nearing, and she was suddenly all too aware of his hands, sparking electricity wherever he touched her. Oh, God. She swallowed nervously, her throat suddenly dry as her eyes flickered to his lips, mere inches away from brushing her own and igniting that deep, fiery passion inside her that she craved.

"Siiiilas." Katherine dragged his name out, testing it on her tongue, in a sharp, ragged whisper, as he slowly leaned closer, an enticing invite in his eyes, and in an instant she knew she wanted him, in that moment she wanted him more than anything she'd ever wanted in her entire life, and the intensity of it left her shaking, and caused her to shove him back and scramble out of his lap. No way was she drunk enough to be let down by disappointment. Damn it.

But eventually, he would be hers, and _damn_ that stupid doppelgänger prophecy if it separated them, because she was Katherine Pierce and she _always_ got what she wanted. Even in death.

"No." She slurred, shaking her finger at him. He smirked again in amusement.

"No?"

"Yep. No." She shook her head at him vigorously. She was not going to sleep with him in Elena's house...ugh, no. But someday, someday, they would go there.

_Not now, not yet, but one day, you will be mine._

**~X~**

Whatever had happened between them, he wouldn't speak of it again. And scaring the hell out of Bonnie and Damon was his primary focus, probably so he _couldn't_ talk about it.

It was frustratingly scary how much she wanted him now that she'd had him for a split second.

It was freakingly weird how much she enjoyed taking out that frustration on Damon's car with a poker, leaving it a completely smashed and battered version of what it once was.

And stealing his keys. That was fun too.

In the end, it didn't really matter. No matter what she did, she would never like the world she was stuck in for eternity.

Katherine needed to get home. She needed to see Stefan. She needed to see Nadia, although that was no longer an option.

So she would just have to make-do with what she had. An all powerful witch who she may or may not have the _tiniest_ crush on, and who may or may not like her back, a vampire who couldn't drink blood here, and another witch who had recently given up all her magic, and probably no longer had it.

"I want to get home." She said aloud. Silas looked up at her from his grimoire. "Well, that's why we're trying to find the ascendant." He replied snidely. It was the first real acknowledgement he'd given her, even if it was a rude one.

"Yeah, I know, but I need someone who'll be able to work one hundred percent. Who can actually find it." She shot back snootily, turning away.

"Yeah, hello, perfect specimen of man right here." Silas waved at her, smirking. "If I can do a locators spell, then we can get it, go into a source of power i.e. underground, perform the spell in the light of the eclipse and _woala_! Done, back to life." He shrugged, as Katherine gaped at him open-mouthed. Whatever he had just said, it didn't sound easy, and to travel forward in time _and_ get resurrected? It would take a hell of a lot of power.

"Can I do it? My dad was a traveler, I died as a human, I could help." Katherine suggested, despite not even beginning to grasp the basics of their path home.

"The more the merrier," Silas shrugged, and _how did he not realise her gaze on his lips?!_ "Bonnie died as the anchor to the Other Side, so I doubt she'll be much help."

She hoped he could do it, she needed to do it, more than anything else. Because, she had come to realise, that beyond whatever she was feeling, she had developed some bond of trust with him, however tenuous, and she hadn't had that in a very long time.

It scared her most of all that she wasn't afraid of it, not even a little bit.

**~X~**

But they needed that ascendant. More than anything. So, begrudgingly, they would have to make themselves known to Damon and Bonnie in the hopes that they had more leads.

Though the way she marched away from him the fourth time that week didn't exactly inspire much confidence in Katherine, but she would have to try.

After the eclipse, they went into the shop, knowing full well that Damon and Bonnie wouldn't show up for another several hours. She grabbed a rolled up map from the back, whilst Silas raided the counter and came up with a handful of change. Although why he would need money if they were in a land with no other people to exchange it with, she didn't know.

She grabbed a bag of crisps, and grabbed a bottle of bourbon, then tossed a sprig of vervain in it for luck; she wouldn't put it past Damon to try and compel her away, and swigged a mouthful of it back. She may need to be slightly tipsy if having to deal with the both of _them_.

And Silas' erratic behaviour, apparently, since he had just dashed outside with the money, heading right for the merry-go-round right outside the shop. She watched, in light amusement, as he examined the instructions on the machine, then slotted the coins in one by one and kneeled down and started tapping some buttons on the battery box. How he'd figured that out, she would never know.

Hopefully, it was something good. Something to trick Bonnie and Damon, even if it _was_ a children's toy.

Silas suddenly stood up, looked over his shoulder, and hurried back into the shop over to her, looking immensely pleased with himself.

"What did you do?" Katherine asked, smiling as he grabbed another bottle of bourbon.

"Oh, that was just setting the merry-go-thing on a timer, so when Damon and Bonnie get here in," he looked at his watch, which couldn't possibly be correct in a place that constantly relived itself, but apparently was, "Twenty minutes! Give or take," He took another sip of bourbon. "They'll be super freaked out and probably get into an argument about it, then Bonnie will storm off for the fourteenth time, and Damon will come here to drink it off, but his drinks will be filled with vervain."

Katherine frowned at him, a little weirded out by how much he knew about their behaviour patterns. He saw it, and he clucked his tongue, realisation dawning on him. "I really shouldn't know that."

"You really shouldn't." She agreed, walking into the back, and opening her crisps. She handed Silas a wooden chair, smirking as he rolled his eyes and stamped hard on one of the legs, splintering it and breaking it off. He picked it up and tossed the chair behind her, eyes gleaming predatorily at the sharp points at the end of the wooden leg, forming a home-made stake. Just for Damon, who she was almost sure she could see outside, arguing _again_ with Bonnie.

"So, you know what to do?" He asked impatiently.

"Seriously? You're asking _me_ what to do? The girl who always stays ten steps ahead?" Katherine asked him dubiously, hand on her hip.

"Yep, 'cause-" Silas was cut off by the door opening and the familiar stomp of Damon's boots scuffling towards the wine aisle. They both froze for a moment, then Silas dived for the gap between the two shelves of wine and beer, merging with the shadows, whilst Katherine made a straight beeline for the back room, deliberately throwing her bottle onto the floor. The glass smashed everywhere, creating a loud shattering noise that could _not_ be missed, especially with vampire hearing, and she hid behind a long table, that suspiciously looked as though it had been used for breaks. It didn't take long for Damon to come walking tentatively down towards their aisle, peering round the corner, and staring at the splintered shards of glass scattering the floor with those _gorgeous_ bright blue eyes that she admittedly had missed just a little bit.

Katherine stuck her hand into her crisp packet, then popping a crisp in her mouth and crunching as loudly as possible. She saw Damon, through the gap in the shelf in front of her, straighten in suspicion, and inch towards her. She smirked to herself. This was gonna be fun.

And then Damon turned the corner, finally spotting her, and the look of horror on his face was something she couldn't have even begun to imagine.

"Hello, Damon." She smiled sweetly. His mouth gaped open in shock and wow, she was really enjoying this. She only wished that she had a camera.

"Katherine." Was all he managed to choke out, as he continued to stare at her in an utter mask of resentment, surprise, and anger, and she just absorbed it all, basked in every moment of it. Because this probably wouldn't be happening again anytime soon.

"Miss me?" She smirked as Silas deftly stepped out from behind the shelf, right behind Damon, broken wooden chair leg in hand.

 _Aah_ , she smiled again to herself. This was going to be so much. This was what she had been waiting for. Justice would be served. For her daughter, for herself.

And vengeance had never tasted more sweeter on her tongue.

 


	3. Chapter 3

No matter what anyone said, revenge really did give you a purpose. It wasn't a pointless waste of energy.

 _If we didn't have revenge, why would we want to live?_ The words have slowly changed over the past five hundred years, reminiscent of something she once believed in, but no longer thought she was capable of.

All this, Katherine regarded, as she studied Damon up and down and she elegantly rose from the chair she had been sitting on.

Damon blinked at her, and shuffled backwards a little. "You're dead."

"And judging from the circumstances, so are you." She smirked, coiling her fingers together in front of her. "Do tell how that came to pass."

"Travellers. I killed them by blowing them up. Let's just say it didn't end well for me in the process." He sneered. Katherine glanced behind him at Silas, waiting for her signal. It had been a silent agreement that she would have her way with him before they attacked him. "But anyway," Damon continued. "If you've been here this entire time, then I assume that you're behind the creepy going-ons that have been happening to Bonnie and me. What's wrong? Got a little bored not being able to terrorise people?"

"Actually, I...had a little company of my own to torment." Katherine added slyly, watching Damon's eyes narrow in confusion, and Silas quirk a smile at her. "And let's just say I haven't been in this world for as long as you think." She smiled.

"He's done." She muttered to Silas, and stepped away, as Silas gleefully smashed the chair leg into Damon's back before he could even react, jerking it upwards and grazing his heart. Damon slumped to the ground, choking and unmoving, eyes wide at Katherine in shock, the only person he could look at from his paralyzing position.

"Hey, Damon, remember me?" Silas hissed.

"Urgh, you're all buddy buddy with Silas now, are you?" Damon managed to groan out. "Last I checked, you two hated each other."

"And last I checked," Silas twisted the chair leg in deeper, causing another yell of pain. "You and _Bonnie_ hated each other. Guess death really helps you find your true friends, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't change the fact that you're both raging psychopaths." Came Damon's choked reply.

Katherine stamped her heel through his hand in response.

"Aah!"

"And you, Damon," she smiled sweetly. "Always had that compulsive, obsessive streak in you. Wanted me for _a hundred and fifty_ years, though deep down, you knew I could _never_ really love you, and you think _we're_ crazy."

Silas grinned. "At least we know when to let something go, Damon."

Damon groaned, rising to his knees. "I'm gonna rip your head off." He growled at them, turning towards Silas.

"No." Silas said. "You're not." And he smashed the bottles on the shelf with the chair leg, spraying Damon with glass and liqour, the liquid burning his skin. With another howl of agony, Damon slumped to the floor again.

We weren't sure which bottle you'd take, so we vervained them all." Silas raised his hand to stab Damon again, when a cold voice interrupted him.

"Stay away from him."

Katherine and Silas turned around at the sound of Bonnie's voice, a delighted grin on his face, and a wicked smirk on hers.

"Aah! The useless one is here. Thank God. We've watched you try to do magic for weeks now. What are you gonna do, fail at us? It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for you." Katherine remarked snidely.

"What are you two doing here?" Bonnie deflected Katherine's statement, looking at them in complete shock. "Didn't you get blown away to...Hell?"

"Oh, trust me, we went to hell all right. A smothering darkness with creatures of the night that voice your worst nightmares." Katherine said darkly. "But we got out, we survived, to make you pay. But seriously, did you really think that you'd gotten rid of us for good? God, you're stupid."

"How could you have even gotten out? It's-it's not possible..." Bonnie stared at them, watching the sharp wooden object in Silas' hand with a wary eye.

"Well, I don't want to bore you with the details, but what can I say? Revenge really gives you something to think about, and in the end, not even hell could stand in our way." Silas smirked, stepping towards her with a malicious glint in his eye.

"Not from making you pay."

The candle on the side flared to life. Silas' eyes flickered to it, and it went out again.

Bonnie stepped back, alarm in her eyes. "Run!" She yelled to Damon, who used their distraction as an advantage and sped off.

"Urgh, for God's sake." Katherine muttered, as flames soared up all around them, licking at them in a wicked circle. It was pathetic compared to what she had faced-what _they_ had faced together.

With a flick of her hand, the flames roared up impressively, lighting up the bottles of bourbon in explosive fireworks of shattered glass. Just to let Bonnie know who was in control.

She fought back, oh, she fought, but they overpowered her two to one, sending her to her knees, Silas pointing the jagged end of his chair leg against her neck.

"Don't worry, Bon-bon." He smirked. "We'll be generous and make it quick."

He raised the stick, preparing to jab it into her neck, when Damon zoomed back into view, knocking Silas off his feet and throwing him across the floor. Katherine smiled; they'd played right into their hands.

With an indignant growl, Damon curled up into a ball as a double aneurysm hit him full-force, rolling off of Silas, who stood up promptly and with a twist of his hand, snapped Damon's neck, rendering Bonnie defenceless and Damon with a serious ego bruise.

"Now," Silas turned to Bonnie, the arrogant smirk Katherine had come to love back on his face.

"How about we get that ascendant?"

**~X~**

And, just typically, of course Bonnie and Damon don't have the ascendent. Of course, Bonnie doesn't know how to master her magic properly.

And of course they have a crazy loon tied to an armchair in front of the fireplace.

"Ohh! Goody, new people." He smiled dopily, and Katherine got the distinct impression that he didn't really know what he was looking at.

"Ignore him." Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"So I'm assuming that you know these people-how?" The man continued, glancing at her and Silas.

Silas smiled. "Oh, I'm Silas, this is Katherine, and I look exactly like Damon's brother, and Kitty-Kat here used to date Damon and conveniently looks exactly like the love of his life and Bon-Bon's best friend all because I cheated on my witch girlfriend and wanted to live forever."

"Oh, and we have a grudge against Bonnie because she let us get sucked into Oblivion." Katherine added, elbowing Silas and smiling sweetly at the witch, who was just departing the room.

"Kai." The man nodded, looking amused. "So that's what Stefan and Elena look like. I was wondering-"

"Fascinating, really, but just answer the damn questions, you guys. How are we going to get out of this Twilight Zone if we don't even have an ascendent-thingy?" Damon interrupted, sitting down on the couch opposite Kai.

"I got a question for you, first. Why do you think we're stuck on a repeating loop of May tenth, 1994?" Kai suddenly asked. "Doomed to relive a solar eclipse forever and ever, and ever."

"How the hell should I know?" Damon asked, taking a sip of bourbon.

"Well, I overheard you tell Bonnie this place was your own personal hell. I'm kinda curious why." Kai said, something malicious lurking in his smile, reminiscent of her own, the vampire she had been so long ago. Katherine wasn't exactly sure whether she liked Kai or not. And that scared her. There was something strange about him, something that said if you trusted him too much you would get a knife in your back.

"Yeah, Damon, now that it's been brought up," Katherine turned to face him. "Why _do_ you think this is your own personal hell? You know, since we're all here with _you_."

"Maybe because I _am_ here with all of you." Damon muttered, taking another swig of bourbon.

"Now, now, Damon," Silas smirked sarcastically, helping himself to another bottle of bourbon. "Negativity will get us nowhere. Thinking positively is what got me and Katherine out of our _actual_ hell."

Damon glared at him, and opened his mouth to say something else, when Bonnie came back into the room, carrying a bag.

"I found everything you asked for: can-opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, jam, pocket knife, volume 'O' of the encyclopedia, a nail and a black marker."

"Really? A _shower drain_? I think he made you get those so you'd look like an idiot." Katherine remarked snidely. Silas snorted, nearly spraying alcohol everywhere, before quickly recovering and making it sound like a hasty cough.

Bonnie gave them both a death glare, before she shoved wordlessly past them to the table in front of Damon's couch before dumping the bag of objects onto it in a moody manner.

"Now what?"

Kai grinned knowingly. "Can't show you with my hands taped."

Silas grabbed the pocket knife, ignoring Damon and Bonnie's warning glares and cut off the tape binding his wrists.

"Thank you."

"Okay," Katherine said. "So we know that the ascendent teleports us back to where we came from, but seriously, how _is_ this pile of crap going to be of any use to us?"

"I'll explain...as soon as you tell me what you did on May tenth, 1994, Damon." Kai smirked, rubbing his wrists. Katherine looked up at those words. Of course; that had explained why she had felt so uneasy about that date. She'd almost forgotten, but this had been the day that Damon had committed the very unforgivable act that had sealed her love for Stefan infinitely. What Damon had done was the final thing that had made him unlovable in her eyes.

"What difference does it make?!" Damon demanded, looking angry and frustrated.

"Well," Silas began, "it wouldn't hurt to know that you really are the monster your brother thought you to be."

"Anyway, Bonnie's magic is one part of the equation. My as-yet undisclosed knowledge is the other. Since you already know about the ascendent, I think I deserve a little more information, just to see if you deserve to come along." Kai shrugged.

Within a flash, Damon had grabbed the pocket knife from Silas and lifted Kai up into air, pressing the knife against his neck.

"Oh, right." Katherine nodded. "Take it out on him, I'm sure it'll make you feel _much_ better."

"Or I could just torture you until you say something useful. Or something that Silas doesn't already know."

"Or..." Katherine said. " _I_ could just tell you what he did. It was horrible. I'm glad you feel guilty about it, in fact, it was one of the final reasons I chose Stefan over you."

Bonnie reached out and snatched the knife out of Damon's hand, who had been watching her, half-scared, half-annoyed. "Are you gonna tell us your story, or is she?"

"Maybe I don't want to talk about the worst thing I ever did, Bonnie." Damon replied quietly.

Katherine snorted. "Yeah, because you finally have some feelings? _Actual_ guilt about what you did? Your time's run out, Damon. Time to admit what you did."

"Oooh, now I'm listening," Silas smirked, pouring out another drink. He handed it to Katherine, with a surprisingly empathetic look, who tossed it instantly back, trying to dislodge the burn of tears in the back of her throat. How he knew what she was feeling right then was beyond her, but she couldn't stop herself suddenly feeling grateful for the motion.

"Coming from the girl who's screwed over and killed so many people that she's lost count?" Damon sneered. Katherine swallowed, stung, and turned around to face him.

"Leave her alone." Silas said in a threatening tone.

"What? All I'm saying is, if you hadn't have been so selfish, turning me and Stefan and then abandoning us, then I wouldn't have mourned you, and lashed out, and done all those horrible things either! If you had just stopped being selfish for one second you would realise that."

Katherine felt as though she had been slapped. The glass in her hand shattered without any measure of control as her rage grew and burned within her. "Don't you _dare_ blame me for all the horrible things you've done! I didn't tell you to _mourn_ me, to kill countless people in my name, just like Klaus didn't tell me to, but I certainly didn't tell you to _kill a pregnant woman!"_ Her words echoed out in the shocked silence that followed. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore; they fell freely down her face with no sign of ever stopping.

"So, _Kai,_ " she muttered in a trembling voice, turning around to face him.

"Now you've got your information. Tell us how to get out of here."

**~X~**

"Phasmatos tribum, nas ex viras, sequitas sanguinum." Bonnie muttered for the third time at the map. The candles around her lit up, but there was no chance with the drop of Kai's blood on the map. Katherine sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently. After several attempts, the witch had still proven that she was next to useless when it came to magic, but Kai had insisted that it had to be a Bennett witch who performed the spell.

"I don't trust him." Silas muttered, nearly making her jump.

"Neither do I, there's something about him that just doesn't add up." Katherine hissed back. "And I wouldn't trust those two as far as I could throw them, either."

"Hmm," he murmured, leaning closer to whisper in her ear, sending shivers down her spine, and it was all she could do to restrain herself from kissing him right there and then.

"So, does that mean you trust _me_ then?"

She laughed, hoping it would cover up the nervous butterflies she felt fluttering in her stomach at the fact that _yes she did_ trust him, but she didn't know how to say it.

"Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?" Damon remarked, throwing a paper plane across the room.

"Just about our lack of trust in you lot. But you already know about that." Silas called across the room.

"Oh, trust me, pun intended, you aren't the only ones thinking about that." Damon smiled back.

Katherine scowled at him. "Well, considering we're the ones Bonnie let get sucked into hell, it's us that-"

"Hey, shut up please! I'm not going to help you guys unless you stop bick-er-ring!" Kai announced in a sing-song voice. He sounded almost rhythmic, saying everything in the same, happy, slightly sarcastic tone all the time and Katherine had to grit her teeth hard to force herself from arguing further, as Bonnie stopped her hocus pocus, looking down in annoyance at Kai's blood, which _still_ hadn't moved.

"It doesn't feel right. Maybe I need a bigger map?"

"Or maybe you're just out of practice and you suck at magic now." Silas smirked snidely.

"Ignore them, Bonnie. Pretend they're a white-noise machine. That's how I used to tune out my siblings." Kai leaned forward towards Bonnie, something almost seductive in his gaze. It was disturbing to say the least, Katherine thought to herself. "I grew up with a ton of little sisters and brothers. You know, all of them constantly yammering. But it taught me how to focus." He was only a few inches away, looking as though he were almost about to kiss her.

"Easy there, big brother! She doesn't know you. At least buy her a drink." Damon stood up instantly, almost startling Katherine with the intensity in his gaze. With his glowering expression, his clenched fists, it almost looked as though...

As though Damon had feelings for Bonnie.

"So," she smirked, stepping towards Bonnie. "You and Damon..."

"What about us?" Bonnie asked, still looking intently at the map.

"Come on, you know what I mean. Are you and Damon...?"

"Shut up, Katherine!" Damon snapped tersely.

"Oh, you aren't answering the question. That's a probably definitely yes." She grinned.

Bonnie looked up at them icily, cheeks a furious red, silent in shock for a moment, before continuing the spell. "Phesmatos tribum, nas ex viras, sequitas sanguinum. Phesmatos tribum, nas ex viras, sequitas sanguinum."

Katherine smiled triumphantly, and was about to turn around to Silas, when Kai leaned towards the map, frowning. "The spell's moving towards Virginia. That can't be right."

"It's finally _working?_ " Silas said, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Oh, well better pop the champagne, this is a miracle!"

Bonnie ignored him. "Mm-mm, the spell's working. It's showing me Mystic Falls. It feels so... close." She turned towards Kai, holding up her hand. The candles flames around her almost instantly intensified.

"It's right here." She touched Kai's chest, and the candle flames instantly went out. Katherine frowned as Kai laughed, then reached into his shirt pocket, drawing out a small, hexagon, made of silver and gold metal all intricately slotted together. Without a doubt, this was the ascendent.

"Very good." Kai smirked.

" _That's_ the Ascendant?" Katherine demanded, fuming with anger. All this time, wasted on finding a device they already had that they could have spent finding the underground tunnels to go home!

"The one and only." Kai replied, flipping it in the air.

"Thanks for the mind games, jackass." Silas growled. "What was the point in that?"

"It was just another little test to make sure Bonnie's magic was precise enough for the spell we need to get home." Kai shrugged, rubbing his hands together

"I do believe you're ready. Pack your bags-we're going home."

 


	4. Chapter 4

It was starting. They were one step closer to getting back to Mystic Falls. Katherine smirked as she followed Kai outside, Silas right behind her.

"So, you're wondering around like a crazy man, why?" Damon asked, looking at him as he held the ascendent up in the light like, well, like a crazy man.

"Looking for the exact right spot. We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused." Kai replied, squinting into a hole in the ascendent.

"Yes, I've already started doing that, it's somewhere in the tunnels underground." Silas rolled his eyes in a clear sign of impatience.

"Yeah, but you didn't have the ascendent, did you? It'll make it more accurate." Kai replied, still squinting up at the ascendent.

"You know you could have just shown us the Ascendant to begin with." Katherine pointed out tiredly. "Would have saved us a load of trouble, and by now I could have been back in normal time, alive, and cooking Tyler Lockwood's brains out."

"Yeah, but I wanted to feel Bonnie's hand on my chest." Kai winked at a perturbed Bonnie, ignoring Katherine's last comment.

"There's something not right about him." Bonnie muttered.

"Tell me about it." Silas hissed, giving him an evil look.

"You're just not used to guys hitting on you." Damon smirked.

"You know, I can't wait to get out of here and talk to somebody else." Bonnie replied jokingly. Katherine smirked, and elbowed Silas, who was already grinning at their flirting. Looked like Elena and Jeremy had some competition.

"Can we just have a few lasting seconds of peace while this idiot uses that thing to get the stars to align?" Silas sighed, linking his arm through Katherine's. She smiled up at him, about to reply, when she kicked something on the ground. It was a paper plane made from a newspaper that she had seen Damon throwing around. A headline stood out to her on the front 'Family Massacred in Portland' and she picked it up, unfolding it to read the article.

"Hey, what's up with the nature walk?" Damon yelled at Kai as she straightened out the page.

"I used the ascendant to figure out where we need to be standing during the eclipse." Kai replied grinning. Horror washed over Katherine as she read the page, a sickening wave of disgust curdling in her stomach.

"Great. Let's do some magic and get the hell out of here." Damon said, looking at Bonnie.

"Oregon." Katherine whispered.

"What?" The others came over to look at what she was reading.

"Oh, I've seen that paper like a thousand times, there's something in this article about Oregon." Bonnie said.

"What about it?" Silas said blankly.

"You know, Kai said he had all those brothers and sisters." Katherine muttered, glaring at Kai.

"Mmhmm." Silas nodded, still looking confused.

Bonnie read the paper aloud, voicing Katherine's suspicions. "'Family massacred in Portland. The only one missing was the oldest boy, a twenty-two-year-old named Malachai.'"

They all looked over at Kai, who had turned around, watching them devilishly.

"Who names a kid Malachai? It's like they expected me to be evil." He said, looking more annoyed than anything.

"All these kids were murdered!" Bonnie snapped at him.

"Hello! Not everyone died! I had a soft spot for one of my sisters, 'cause otherwise, I would've cut her lungs out, and not just her spleen." Kai shrugged.

Katherine blanched in horror. " _What_?" She managed to choke out.

"You can survive without a spleen." Kai grinned.

"Something tells me you're not speaking hypothetically." Damon frowned as Kai headed over to them and casually pointed at the photos on the front page.

"Look, well, these two, I, uh, hung off a stairwell railing. Then I put a hunting knife in her abdomen, and him, I drowned in the pool. But, he kept fighting me, I was like, 'I saved you for last, you ungrateful little...' Anyway, that was that." Kai shrugged, casually heading over to where he had previously been standing.

"You're telling us that you just murdered your entire family?" Silas spat out. Even he was horrified by the newspaper.

"Coven, to be precise." Kai said, examining the ascendent again, before looking back up at their blank faces. "Oh, you know, family of witches."

"You're making us all jump through hoops, and you're a witch?" Silas said, indicating him, Bonnie and Katherine.

"Sort of, yeah. No powers, obviously." Kai nodded. "Oh, and of _course_ , the Gemini Coven did _not_ take it too well when they heard what I did in Portland. It's why they banished me here."

"This place is a prison." Bonnie realised, looking towards Kai, stepping backwards. "They created it for you."

"Yup. This place isn't your hell, Damon." Kai said, staring almost wistfully at the sky. "It's mine."

Bonnie pursed her lips for a moment, looking at the newspaper, before she turned around and stormed back to the Boarding House. Katherine threw the newspaper to the ground, overcome with a sudden urge to stamp childishly, and followed her, sighing at the hypocrisy of her situation, and the loss of Nadia suddenly heavy on her mind.

"Katherine!" She turned around, taking a deep breath, and saw that the others were following, Silas running after her.

"We're not letting Kai out of here, okay? He just said he's a serial killer." Bonnie snapped, marching into the living room.

"It doesn't matter." Damon shrugged. "We wanna get out of here, don't we?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with witchy, we can't let him out to just destroy his entire family, or whatever's left of them." Katherine added, glaring maliciously at Kai. She didn't quite know why she was so bothered by it, a year ago she wouldn't have been, but perhaps after watching her daughter die and knowing it was her fault...something had just broken in her, leaving her vulnerable and more emotional than she'd ever been.

"And _I_ can't believe _I'm_ saying this, but I'm with Damon! I don't care! We've all killed people, what does it matter? We weren't gonna let this stop us before!" Silas gripped her arms tightly, imploring with her. Katherine stared at him and Damon, shocked.

"How can you not care? Maybe because of all the horrible things you've done? Or maybe, killing your own family isn't a big deal to someone who's killed a pregnant woman or abandoned their own doppelgänger to drown in a safe at the bottom of a quarry." She snapped bitterly. Damon looked away from her guiltily, but Silas just looked stung.

"Katherine-"

"Am I wrong?" She asked, looking at him square in the face. This was the closest they'd been standing to each other since the kiss, the contact she'd craved, and now ironically, she wished she could be as far away from him as possible. "Or do you actually feel remorse for that?"

"Ooh," Kai said, sauntering over. "I haven't heard this story before. So, Silas, you tortured Damon's brother? Is that the reason you don't get on?"

"Oh, shut up." Silas snapped at him, before turning back to Katherine.

"Come on, Katherine. We wanted revenge, like Kai, we _deserve_ it. It's not like Damon and Bon-Bon trust us either."

Katherine sighed. "That revenge plan I had intended for Tyler is still pretty tempting..."

For a second she pictured it. Getting revenge on Tyler had been the only thing really keeping her going, to convince her to find a way to survive, but letting an entire family die by unleashing a psychopath? For some reason, that was just something she couldn't stomach.

Then she looked at him again. "But I can't let an entire family die again. My whole family died because I didn't do the right thing and I always regretted it. I'm sorry, Silas." She said guiltily.

"Coming from someone who let their entire family die, to save their own skin, that's rich. No one changes that much." Damon retorted.

"I didn't let them die. I was seventeen years old, a newbie vampire, and running from a psychopath who wanted to use my blood in some sacred ritual, Damon. _Excuse_ me for panicking and not being able to outsmart someone five hundred years older than me!" Katherine snapped at him hotly.

"And as for you, don't turn this around. You've treated your brother like crap for the past two centuries, every single time he trusted you. The last time he did that, a pregnant woman died, didn't she?"

"Ouch. Poor nephew-uncle Zach." Kai said, not sounding the least bit sympathetic.

Damon sighed, glancing at Bonnie as she stared at him curiously. "Stefan compelled Uncle Zach to forget about the girlfriend and the baby. But, he couldn't cover up all those murders. Founder's Council was restarted, and Stefan took off. Left Mystic Falls for about fifteen years. We both did." Damon said, looking at Bonnie, a guilty and upset expression on his face at the disappointed look on hers. "And then when I saw Uncle Zach again, I couldn't look at him without remembering that I ruined everything, so it was a nice _relief_ when I got to kill him. Okay, can we go back now?" He snapped impatiently.

"Oh, come on, you two. You guys wanna go home to your friends, you guys wanna go home to get _revenge_ on their friends, and I wanna go back and give the rest of the Gemini Coven an excruciating death. Win-win." Kai shrugged.

"We go back together, _willingly."_ Silas said to Kai threatingly, glancing at Katherine.

Damon took Bonnie's wrist, squeezing it tightly. "I gotta get back, okay, not just for Elena, but for my brother, I need them, and they need me." Damon looked at her desperately, then at Katherine.

"I'm sorry, Damon."

"Sorry doesn't work for me." Kai said, reaching towards them, when Silas stepped in front of him, moving Katherine to the side, blocking him from getting to her, distracting Kai from Damon, who took the opportunity to grab him and pin him against the wall.

"We may be having a bit of an disagreement, but don't _ever_ lay a hand on her." Damon said in a low, steely voice.

Kai sighed. "Kind of a non-issue now." He looked out the door, where a bright light was blocking out the Salvatore gardens. "We missed the day's eclipse. Rain check for tomorrow?"

Katherine threw him and Silas a venomous glare, then stalked past them into the hallway.

" _No_."

"Oh, for God's sake, Katherine." She heard him groan, before heading off after her. "What is this really about?"

She stopped before the staircase, and turned around to glare at him. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sure I didn't stutter," Silas replied brusquely. " _what_ is this really about? You were the one who was all like 'come on, let's get the ascendent and ditch Bonnie and Damon as revenge!' and now all of a sudden, some immature sociopath murders his siblings, and you're determined to stay here no matter what."

She gritted her teeth. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I supposed to condone letting some psychopath out of his prison to murder his family, when I was the one responsible for triggering Nadia's killer's werewolf gene that led him to become the hybrid that bit her?" She smiled sarcastically. "My bad."

He sighed. "Is that what you've been obsessing about? Katherine, you didn't kill her, Tyler did."

"Yeah, but I started it!" Katherine snapped, gritting her teeth. "If I had just told Nadia to stay away, or if I had just left Mystic Falls after jumping into Elena's body instead of staying for some insanely pathetic, moronic notion that I could get Stefan to love me without being _me_ , then she would still be alive. She'd still be with me!"

"Yeah, and you weren't there when Tyler bit her, I was!" Silas yelled back. Katherine blinked at him.

"What?"

He stepped forward. "I saw her compel Matt to forget about you, and then went to leave the house, but Caroline was there after Matt had texted her. She went to leave, but Caroline attacked her, so she retaliated, before Tyler intervened and threw her to the floor. She managed to fight him off, but he bit her arm before she could get away."

Katherine felt sick. "And then, after you had both died, all _he_ felt bad about was the fact that Caroline had slept with the man who had killed his mother, when he had just killed someone's daughter. So _no_ , Katherine, it wasn't your fault. It was unprovoked, Tyler didn't know Nadia was helping you stay alive, and she didn't do anything to him, he attacked her because he was worried about Matt and Caroline, and though I wasn't exactly fond of you at the time, I still thought Tyler was responsible, and what he did disgusted me then, and it _still_ does now." He finished vehemently.

Katherine was stunned by the intensity of his words. "Why would you say that?" She muttered. "I mean, at the time you hated me, you couldn't care less about what was happening to Nadia, you've even tried to kill her yourself, so why would you say that now?"

"Well, we're - we're friends, right?" He smiled. "Friends care, they help each other, make each other feel better, or so I've been told." Katherine smiled back at him briefly before turning away at the irony of that sentence, when they toed the line of so much more.

"What is it?"

"Are we ever gonna talk about it?" She asked. Silas came up behind her.

"About what?"

"Don't play dumb, you know what!" She snapped, turning to look at him. "About the kiss."

"What-" Silas cut himself off and cleared his throat, looking around for nosy vampires. "Not _now_ ," Then he took her arm. "But later. When all this is over and this world is behind us."

She snorted, the rejection clear in her mind. He didn't want her. Why did she always fall for men that were incapable of loving her back? "Yeah, that's an _if_ we leave this world behind us."

"Look, we can still get outta here, Kat. We can steal the Ascendent, find out what Kai knows and we'll ditch him, and Damon and Bonnie because they aren't very useful anyway!"

"You should know by now that nothing ever goes that easily." Katherine sighed, heading towards the kitchen. "Not for us."

"What are you two talking about?" Damon smirked. He was holding a plate of pancakes, as though cooking that pregnant woman's favourite food could serve as redemption for what he did.

"Never mind, it doesn't concern you." Katherine sighed, hopping onto the counter.

Silas followed her. " _Yes_ for us. The villains, in the end they win, right? We've just got to out-villain Kai."

"Actually, it's not that simple." A voice said from the door. They both turned around to see Kai behind them.

"You gotta stop doing that. It's creepy."

"Here's the thing: I have a killer effect on magic. I can't generate it myself. But, I can consume it from others temporarily. My family called me an abomination. That hurt my feelings." Kai said, and without warning, grabbed Bonnie's wrist. Pain instantly exploded in Katherine's throat, cutting off her breathing, and flames roared to life on the stove, and she could tell from Damon's groans, and Silas clutching his throat that she wasn't the only one in agony.

Silas threw out his hand, and Kai was jerked away from Bonnie, stopping the spells.

"Okay, we get it!"

"You can see why my coven and I didn't get along." Kai smiled innocently.

"I smell an ultimatum." Damon growled, still clutching his head.

"If I consume any one of all you three witches magic, I'm just gonna end up killing you. But, if we work together, we can all go home as friends." Kai smiled, then adopted a darker look. "Or I can devour your magic, kill you all, and go home alone. What's it gonna be?"

He didn't wait for an answer and sat down at the table, eating the pancakes, and Katherine couldn't shake the uneasy suspicion that whether they helped Kai escape or not, they weren't all going to get out of this prison world alive.

 


End file.
